What is Green Building?

What is Green Building?

Many may consider a green building as a building that comes with green walls and solar panels to beautify and protect the environment. It is way more than that. Green building is a multi-disciplinary subject and has a profound impact on us.

Generally speaking, green building is a practice of reducing the environmental impact of buildings and enhancing the health and wellbeing of building occupants by:

• Planning throughout the life-cycle of a building or a community, from masterplanning and siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition with a focus on the impact to both the environment and people.
• Optimising efficient use of energy, water, and other resources to avoid overconsumption and adopting the use of renewable energy and eco-friendly materials to minimise carbon footprint and emission.
• Reducing the production of waste and preventing pollution of areas like water, air, noise and land.
• Enhancing indoor environmental quality through natural ventilation and lighting as well as good indoor air quality by design and other means.

Hong Kong Context

One of the world’s most iconic cities, Hong Kong is famous for its unique subtropical built environment of high-rise, high density urban areas, juxtaposed with a large expanse of hilly and mountainous terrain. For many decades it has been one of the world’s most densely populated places, with the majority of its more than 7.4 million residents living and working in urban skyscrapers.

Today, as industrial manufacturing is no longer a major economic activity in Hong Kong, the major user of electricity in the city is buildings such as housing estates, offices and shopping malls. Activities inside these buildings account for over 90% of Hong Kong’s total electricity consumption, resulting in over 50% of the city's greenhouse gas emissions. This percentage is relatively high compared to the global average, which is usually below 40%. Therefore, it is obvious that green buildings play a crucial role in decarbonising Hong Kong, as well as meeting the global target set by the Paris Agreement.

Our Journey To a Sustainable Built Environment

Hong Kong's very first green building benchmark was launched in 1996. Since then, there has been a joint effort among the industry, the Government and the public to create a sustainable built environment. Meanwhile, the international community has also come together through collaborations at the governmental and non-governmental levels, turning the call for sustainable development of cities and buildings into a global movement. Over the years, the Council has collaborated with diverse sectors to foster a sustainable built environment, addressing climate change and striving for carbon neutrality.

Check out an overview of the key milestones in the journey towards creating a sustainable built environment in Hong Kong.

Green Building Certification

Globally, there are a large number of green building certification systems operating in different regions. They are rating tools that help to showcase and compare the environmental performance of buildings. Examples include BREEAM for United Kingdom and LEED for United States. In Hong Kong, BEAM Plus is the rating tool adopted in the market.

BEAM Plus is a rating tool particularly suitable for high-rise high-density built environment. It is not only suitable for Hong Kong, but also applicable to other regions, as reflected in its variety of tools that contain a global version. 

Under BEAM Plus certification system, the HKGBC is the certification body for green buildings, with BEAM Society Limited undertaking the assessment process.

From 1 April 2011 onwards, participation in BEAM Plus assessment becomes one of the pre-requisites in applying for GFA concessions in new building developments. From 30 June 2024 onwards, the requirement is raised by demanding projects to attain specific BEAM Plus ratings.

From 2016 onwards, as Hong Kong started to develop green finance, BEAM Plus has gradually become one of the most widely adopted green building ratings in green bonds, green loans and other green finance instruments issued in Hong Kong. It also finds a lot of applications in ESG benchmarking for property developers and asset owners.

You may know more about BEAM Plus here.